Cabo de Gata – day 5 (part 1)
Unless you are on a small island or peninsula, there are not many places where you can watch the sun rise out of the sea and then, after a day’s walking, observe the sun sinking into the sea. But day 5 of the Cabo de Gata hike allows you do exactly...
Cabo de Gata – day 5 (part 2)
From the vantage point high above Playa de Mónsul, pick your way down the slope to the beach. The route moves slightly to the right on the descent. You will probably want to have an explore of the beach and maybe a sit down in the shade provided by the...
Cabo de Gata – day 6
This is the final stage of the walk. It’s as flat as a pancake and runs from the town of Cabo de Gata to Almería along the seashore. It’s the least interesting leg of the hike; but still has some merits which could persuade you to walk to the...
Europe’s largest eagle nests in Spain
The white-tailed eagle was declared extinct in Spain by the government in 2018.But less than a decade later the first chick to hatch in Iberia in a reintroduction project has flown the nest and is ‘becoming independent’. While some...
Crossing borders on the hikers’ ‘camino’
The Camino da Geira e dos Arrieiros is a fantastic walk. The 10-day pilgrim route, which starts in Braga in Portugal and ends in Santiago de Compostela, offers magnificent scenery and a great variety of countryside. Passing through the mountainous border lands,...
Pilgrim practicalities
There are few things you need to do before setting out on the Camino da Geira e dos Arrieiros ; not least, getting to Braga in Portugal, which might take some time. Starting in Alicante, there are a few options. I took a high-speed train to Madrid (see...
Cross-border ‘camino’; stage 1
No-one would say that the first 10km of the Camino da Geira e dos Arrieiros are a thing of beauty. It’s cityscapes, concrete and roads, some of which have heavy traffic (breathing in petrol, that’s not entertainment); with a few quieter...
Cross-border ‘camino’; stage 2
It had been raining for 36 hours when I woke at the start of Day 2 and I was worried about flooding on the paths. With the forecast predicting the precipitation would continue all day, I knew my best option would be to stick to minor roads for as much of...
Cross-border ‘camino’; stage 3
Day 3 was a revelation. The rain stopped at around 10am and I had views. This stage is one of the most scenic of the Camino da Geira e dos Arrieiros, with half of the route going through Portugal’s only national park, the Peneda-Gerês, which is...
Cross-border ‘camino’; stage 4 (part 1)
After a night in Spain, it’s back to Portugal on the fourth stage of the Camino da Geira e dos Arrieiros. But it takes a while to get there. My route from the spa village of Os Baños to Castro Laboreiro was approximately 26km, with around 800...
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